This invention relates to a non-toxic insecticide composition which is useful in killing aphids, leafhoppers and spider mites. These insects belong to a large order (homoptera) of insects having sucking mouth parts. These insects have plagued farmers for many years. Aphids, sometimes called plant lice, reproduce in enormous quantities in a short period of time and destroy many crops. They cause curling or wilting of cultivated plants by sucking sap from the stems or leaves. Aphids also destroy crops by carrying viruses such as lettuce mosaic virus, especially harmful to this crop in the Salinas Valley of California. Aphids are also notoriously effective vectors for zucchini yellow mosaic virus which can produce a total crop failure. There are many species of aphids, each of which is identified colloquially by their host plant. For example, apple aphid, cotton aphid, rose aphid, etc. Most aphids go through winter on their specific plants in the egg stage.
Leafhoppers feed on leaves and are also vectors of organisms that cause plant diseases. These insects suck the sap from the leaves and reduce or destroy the chlorophyll whereupon the leaves turn yellow or brown.
Spider mites exist in various species which do serious damage to orchard trees, field crops and greenhouse plants. Eggs laid on the plants hatch in four or five days and the mites mature to adult in about three weeks.
All of the foregoing insects are born or hatched on the plants and the insecticide, therefor, must be applied to the plants which are infested with the insects.
Government regulations set limits on the amounts of chemical insecticide residues left on fruits and vegetables to insure that they are well below danger levels. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and plant growth regulators have more than doubled during the period 1969-1989 to about 820 million pounds annually. This invention relates to non-toxic insecticides which provide a solution to the problems associated with toxic agricultural insecticides.